Hospital administrators wield great power over physicians to whom they grant hospital privileges to practice in their public institutions. It thus takes a lot of courage for a doctor to challenge his hospital and allege that he was treated unfairly. According to a news report, a critical-care physician in London, Ont., is suing the London […]
Ontario hospitals need to adopt a just culture for physicians Read More »
New legislation intended to expand the scope of OHIP-insured services that can be provided to the public in Ontario by private facilities received Royal Assent on May 18. Among the goals of the Your Health Act is to expand access to publicly funded community-based healthcare services to improve patient-wait times. But the new legislation is
Bill 60 offers no safeguards for physicians’ privileges Read More »
As reported in the Toronto Star, provincial funding for virtual care provided by emergency room physicians will stop at the end of March. This move, combined with reducing OHIP fees for family doctors to provide virtual care, is the wrong one. Eliminating innovative pathways to provide care to the public is not the way to
Cutting funding for virtual health care is the wrong move Read More »
The world promised, “never again.” But it is happening again. Russian President Vladimir Putin’s unjustified and abhorrent terror on Ukraine is an attempt to wipe out the history of Ukraine. Erasing history is how history will be permitted to repeat itself. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s unparalleled heroism has set the tone for this war. He
Call to Action: We need to help Ukrainian health professionals Read More »
The administrative structure of Ontario hospitals centralizes power into the hands of a few key players – and physicians who practise in these public facilities are often at the mercy of disproportionate or overbroad decision-making. The lack of procedural safeguards for physicians under the Public Hospitals Act is at the root of the problem. To
Physicians hurt by reigns of unreasonableness in hospitals Read More »
The decision by the William Osler Health System to strip a physician of a medical director role after he criticized the province’s handling of the COVID-19 crisis is an egregious abuse of power by hospital leadership. All public hospitals are governed by provincial legislation, allowing them to make operational decisions. But Osler leadership are completely
Free speech in health care is vital, especially during a pandemic Read More »
A recent decision by the Nova Scotia government to automatically make almost every adult in the province an organ donor will benefit those who need a life-saving transplant. But it raises important questions about our autonomy if the government has a right to our bodies after our death. As our previous prime minister Pierre Trudeau
Governments can’t assume they have the right to harvest our organs Read More »
When the Supreme Court of Canada ruled that the absolute prohibition on physician-assisted death infringed on a person’s rights under the Charter of Rights and Freedoms, the Court made it clear that the problem with the prohibition was the fact that it forced individuals facing a grievous and irremediable medical condition to end their lives
Changes to medical assistance in dying rules still not quite right Read More »
As a self-regulated health professional, it can be a stressful experience to receive notice from your college that a patient has filed a complaint against you. Every complaint is different, and the way in which a response is handled is based entirely on the facts of a given case. Nonetheless, there are a few preliminary
Advice for medical professionals facing conduct complaints Read More »
